The Elite
by Leanbow
Summary: The Power Rangers in Space are still leaders in our galaxy's defense against evil, but the time they hoped would never come has arrived: Villains new and old coming together in a new United Alliance of Evil to finish what Dark Spectre started. Can they succeed all over again? They'll do all they can, because they are the elite.
1. Chapter 1

I don't own the Power Rangers in Space characters or other Power Rangers characters, but I do have some original creations in here too. I tend to use a bit of explanatory text to start the story with, but it's just for informational purposes so bear with it. Also this story takes place more or less in the present day but it won't coincide with anything going on in Power Rangers Super Megaforce, other than a few references.

For more than two decades now, the planet Earth has been under the protection of a group of heroes known as the Power Rangers. Over the years the rangers have had many incarnations, but one such group was formed to face a threat larger than any before faced, an entire alliance of enemies of Earth. This deadly alliance under the monstrous Dark Spectre sought not only to enslave the Earth but the entire known universe, and to make matters even worse, the rangers were cut off from their mentor Zordon, the wizard of good that created the Power Rangers. Nevertheless, these rangers succeeded in their mission and in time they stepped down gracefully as the next team would arise to face the next new threat, as is often the way. But the accomplishments of the Power Rangers in Space would make them something greater than heroes. To Earth and other like-minded worlds that witnessed their heroics, they would become beacons of light and hope to be believed in, they would become legendary figures. The Power Rangers Elite.

With the universe now for the most part safe and free, the Earth sent a colony of their number into outer space to travel the undiscovered open universe that they dared not explore during the times of war. That colony found their new world on the simplistic planet Mirinoi, and has lived there in relative peace ever since. But that was only the beginning. Through the combined efforts of the Galactic Space Alliance and NASADA, the Earth's two leading space exploration programs, transportation shuttles allow the human race a means of travel to allied worlds as easily as they would take a plane or ferry to travel across their own planet

Most of that progress is due to the efforts of one man: The GNA (an acronym standing for GSA/NASADA Alliance) Commander Peter Hannes. Since getting hired to the position in the early 2000's Hannes has worked tirelessly to open spaceports in every major city of the Earth and has often served as a delegate on the planet's behalf to meet with planets such as KO-35, Triforia and Mirinoi to discuss all matter of things related to intergalactic relations. As important a job as that might be on its own, he is also in charge of something not often seen in his public life, but you'll find that out in due time.

Today, Peter is in Angel Grove, California, the site of the original GNA headquarters and very first travel spaceport to be built on Earth. He started his day with an early board meeting, and is now heading to that very spaceport to make a re-dedication speech in honour of the finished construction on the new wing. Shortly after, he plans to catch the 5:00 shuttle to Mirinoi. After being dropped at the location by taxi, Commander Hannes first meets with his assistant to gather his prepared notes.

"It looks like we have quite a crowd out there", he relates. "Are their any media present?"

"More than confirmed, sir", informs his assistant Alpha 7, a fully-sentient multifunctional automaton (robot). "Here is your note folder, and your shuttle ticket is inside for after the conference" he says as he turns to hand Peter his notes.

"Thank you Alpha", he responds as he takes the folder. "I'll see you in a couple of days." Commander Hannes sets out to begin the press conference when Alpha is alerted to a blinking light on his portable computer pad. The android opens up a window to see what it is.

"Commander, It's General Norquist on the line for you. It's marked urgent."

"That's strange, he should be in attendance outside. Patch him through to my phone, I'll see what's going on." He takes his cel phone out of his jacket pocket and takes the call. "General? I was just about to make my speech."

"Commander, you should stay where you are" Norquist, GNA's most senior official, tells him. "The spaceport is under attack by an alien army."

"Is it the Armada fleet seen over Harwood County?"

"No, Peter, it's something much more difficult to explain. Piranhatrons."

"Piranhatrons?"

Piranhatrons, the brown armoured fish-like alien foot soldiers last scene on Earth under the employ of the space pirate Divatox, a member of Dark Spectre's United Alliance of Evil.

"Cancel the conference" Hannes instructs the general. "Disperse the civilians, I'll summon the rangers."

Peter Hannes is the Commander of the GNA space program in charge of intergalactic relations, but few know that he has also taken an active role in organizing a response to deal with new alien-based threats to the planet by reassembling those legendary beacons that came to the rescue when the universe needed it most, the Power Rangers in Space.

He unfolds the sleeve of his jacket to use his other phone, the communicator watch on his wrist.

"Andros, come in. Summon the rangers to the Angel Grove spaceport" he says into the watch.

If a new threat from the stars threatened Earth again Peter knew years ago that these rangers would be best suited to handle it, and met with each of them to request they return to their heroic roles should that day come. Andros, Carlos, T.J., Ashley, Cassie and Zhane were only too eager to comply with his wish, as they had become a tightly-knit group of close friends thanks to these experiences. Through the years there had been minor attacks by some wannabe warrior or warlord who might think they're tough, but nothing on the scale of what Dark Spectre had once put together.

As Peter exits the office to head to the gate that his shuttle will leave from, he exhibits a strange sense of calm for someone who is present during a hostile alien attack. But then again, as the one man on Earth closest to perhaps the most famous team of superheroes in the galaxy, perhaps it's no surprise to anyone that he should feel safe during a time of uncertainty. In seconds the large blue Astro Megaship enters the airspace, probably making everyone in the vicinity feel safer. From their flying base, the red, black, blue, yellow and pink rangers soar down to the surface on their Galaxy Gliders.

When they get within twenty feet from the ground, they jump off of their gliders, land on their feet and begin battling the Piranhatrons.

"I didn't think we'd ever see these guys again" remarks Cassie, the Pink Ranger, while the team is fighting hand to hand.

"Maybe it's revenge they want" suggests Carlos, the Black Ranger. "After all, Piranhatrons have been fighting Power Rangers for almost seventeen years."

"These fish-brained losers would never be able to think of a revenge plan by themselves" points out T.J., the Blue Ranger.

"You've got that right" agrees Ashley, the Yellow Ranger, as she flips one Pirahnatron soldier onto its back. "So who sent them here?"

"Only one way to find out" directs Andros, the Red Ranger. "Once we deal with them, whoever is in charge will reveal themselves. Astroblasters, out!"

All together, the rangers pull out their blue coloured blaster weapons from their belt holsters and fire on the Piranhatron army forcing them to retreat backward, creating more space for the rangers to fight. Carlos summons his Lunar Lance and hits off two soldiers with each end before launching an additional Piranhatron into the air. Ashley activates her Battle Blade, covering her hand and part of her arm with a sharp blade, and slashes three more Piranhatrons. Andros leaps into the air and presses the button labeled "01" on his Battleizer wrist weapon. His fist glows with energy and he punches two in a row upon landing. The Piranhatrons form a circle and disappear.

As Andros anticipated, the one leading the Piranhatrons reveals himself after the foot soldiers are defeated. Following a swirl of black and purple energy, the true threat stands revealed to be a masked (or possibly disfigured) ninja in a long dark coat. It is a former enemy of Earth, but not one that the rangers were expecting.

"Is that who I think it is?" Cassie asks her friends.

"I thought he was destroyed by the Ninja Storm rangers" T.J. says.

"Well well" muses Lothor, enemy of the Power Rangers Ninja Storm and evil brother of their Sensai, Kanoi Watanabe. "What has ten arms, ten legs and comes in an assortment of colours?"

"He was sent to the Abyss of Evil, but he was last seen back on Earth" explains Andros. "And then he disappeared."

"Yes. When I was the boss it was so hard to find good help, other would-be world conquerors trying to pull the rug out from under me. Now, however, things are different entirely."

"What are you saying? You aren't the boss anymore?" Andros asks.

"No. And believe me, I'm not the worst you'll face" Lothor answers. "Unless, I destroy you all before you live to see it."

Lothor lets out a wide blast of dark energy from his hand. The rangers scatter to the sides to avoid it, while T.J. jumps in the air. Lothor fires a similar blast at the Blue Ranger, who summons his Astro Axe into his hand and does a spin attack to defend against the blast. As he lands, T.J. tries to hit Lothor with the axe, but he leaps backward and avoids it. The other rangers surround him, and Lothor uses his martial arts ability to fight them all off at once. He dodges Ashley's kick and pushes her away. Carlos tries to grab his arm but Lothor beats him to it, taking hold of Carlos' arm and using momentum to leap to the other side of him and deliver a kick to Cassie. Carlos elbows him with his other arm prompting a release, but Lothor strikes him down with a powerful hand blow. He turns around and gets slashed by Andros' drill-shaped Spiral Sabre weapon. Before Lothor can react, T.J. connects with the Astro Axe and forces him to back up. The rangers gather around to combine their weapons. T.J, Ashley, Cassie and Carlos combine their main weapons (the axe, the Lunar Lance, and the girls' Star Slinger and Satellite Stunner blasters) into a larger blaster.

"Quadroblaster!" shouts Carlos, holding the blaster with the other three standing near.

"Spiral Sabre, booster mode!" calls out Andros. His sabre is combined with his astroblaster for this mode. "Fire!"

They fire their respective blasters at Lothor, who manages to dodge them but gets caught in the impact from the explosions and falls to the ground.

Picking himself up, he angrily says "Consider yourselves lucky that my job today was only to grab your attention. We will meet again."

Energy surrounds him as he prepares to teleport away.

"Beware the wrath of -" he tries to say, but disappeared too soon before he could finish.

From behind a nearby corner, a green-haired woman in a sleeveless black bodysuit watches.

"That idiot, he teleported away before the rangers could hear the name" she remarks to herself. "Oh well, they'll hear the master's name when he wishes it."

She looks past the rangers to the gate of the departing luxury shuttle to Mirinoi. She sees Peter Hannes boarding the craft, and then it prepares for liftoff.

She smiles. "Get ready for a blast from your past, rangers."

A short time later the luxury shuttle has left Earth's orbit and, after a message is delivered regarding safety instructions, Commander Hannes takes a seat in the passenger deck and reviews his notes for his business meeting at the GNA tower in Mirinoi. He continues to keep his calm demeanor, but this new project that the science division is working on could make a very big impact on the Rangers' ongoing battle with evil. However at this stage, the evil that they will battle is only getting warmed up. An orange and brown coloured alien holding a sword materializes on the deck, causing the civilians to run away in fear. Peter stands up and steps over his seat to get away from this individual as well, but he moves past the next row of seats to cut him off.

"No running, Commander Hanes."

"Darkonda. You're supposed to be dead."

Darkonda starts laughing. "As I've often said, evil is my business. You don't think a mercenary like me would really go around flaunting how many lives I have, do you?"


	2. Chapter 2

"I suppose I should be flattered that you would reveal yourself after fifteen years just to confront a civilian like me" Peter says to Darkonda.

"Then you would only be flattering yourself" Darkonda responds. "It's your research notes on GNA's new project, the one being unveiled in your meeting on Mirinoi, that I'm here to acquire. The sooner you hand them over, the more reason you give me to let you live."

Darkonda is one of the galaxy's deadliest and most evil bounty hunters and was frequently in the employ of Dark Spectre back in the old days, including kidnapping Andros' sister as a child so that she could become the villain Astronema. When a missile powerful enough to destroy an entire planet was commissioned by the United Alliance of Evil for use on Earth, Darkonda proved there was no honor among alien terrorists when he stole the missile and used it himself to attack Dark Spectre. Dark Spectre was destroyed, but not before Darkonda's ship was forced to crash land into him, seemingly killing both individuals. Though Darkonda had managed to regenerate himself from death in the past he had not been seen since until this moment, and the connection with the reappearances of Lothor and the Piranhatrons has not been lost on Peter Hannes.

"I hope you realize that no matter what you take or do to me, it won't stop the project from being completed on schedule" Peter points out, as he glances out the window and spots five coloured Galaxy Gliders outside the window turning around into the docking bay. "But it looks as if some mutual acquaintances of ours are eager to reconnect with you."

The rangers rush into the passenger deck on foot and position themselves between Commander Hannes and Darkonda.

"What are you doing here, Darkonda?" Andros demands. "We saw you die with Dark Spectre."

"Sorry Red Ranger, trade secrets." His sword appears in his hand. "How is your sister?"

Andros begins to get angry. He summons the Spiral Sabre and attempts to strike Darkonda, who blocks it with his own sword.

"Are you okay, sir?" T.J. asks Peter.

"I am T.J., I'm just thankful you all arrived here relatively quickly. I'll leave that monster in your hands, but some of you should escort any other civilians away from danger first."

"We're on it, sir." Ashley agrees. "Cassie, you and T.J. take care of it, and you should get to safety as well."

"No argument from me, I should put in a call to the GNA control tower and let them know that my shuttle may be delayed" he answers.

As the rangers take care of the situation with Darkonda, certain events are already being put into motion on Mirinoi that will make the rangers' lives even more difficult. The green-haired women in black that I gave you a brief glimpse of before is now preparing the next step of her plan.

"By now the Space Rangers have made their way to that shuttle to intercept Darkonda" she says to someone else nearby. "So now we move on to the next step of the master's plan. The green, blue and pink Lost Galaxy Rangers are busy at the control tower getting ready for the project meeting, the Red Ranger is off-planet on another assignment and the Yellow Ranger is away visiting family and friends. I'm going to send the Piranhatrons to launch an attack at the edge of the city and the only ranger free to respond to it will be Karone, their pink ranger alternate."

The one she's speaking to steps forward. It is Ecliptor, the black and green coloured cyborg and former general to Astronema and Dark Spectre. "I shall attack with the Piranhatrons"

"Cool it, Robo-cop" she responds to his idea. "As far as the universe knows, you're still dead. If your enemy thinks you're dead, you use that advantage for all it's worth and spring it on them only at the right moment. Besides, the Piranhatrons are just the pawns to draw Karone right into my trap."

"As you wish" Ecliptor relents.

"Don't worry. Your princess will be returning to you soon."

Under her orders, the Piranhatrons cause a minor stir that catches enough attention for GNA to send for the only available ranger, Karone, to settle the matter, just as predicted. And in order for Karone to be prepared for the trouble she might run into, she has to make a quick stop in the forest. While there, Karone has no idea that the Piranhatron army had fled the scene.

Karone reaches the wide rock that contains the five Quasar Sabres face down, waiting to be retrieved by the any member of the Power Rangers Lost Galaxy in the event they need to summon their ranger powers, or anyone else who might be considered "worthy" of wielding them. She hears a small whistling sound in the air and turns sharply to see a shurikan throwing blade spinning in the air toward her. She runs out of it's way and notices two more shurikans being launched from a tree directly behind the wide rock. They curve in the air like boomerangs toward her position. She leaps over the rock and pulls her Quasar Sabre out in time to deflect the shurikans. The tree rustles, and the green-haired woman in black jumps from it and lands with her feet on the ground near Karone.

Keeping her guard up, Karone asks the woman "Who are you?"

"I know we just met and all that" she responds "but my friends call me Melissa, and I have a feeling we're going to become fast friends."

"I doubt that" Karone answers back. "What do you want with me?"

"Not you. Astronema. She's the one who needs to fulfill her role."

"You're crazy"

I prefer the term 'sassy'" Melissa corrects. "Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, lets move on to the obligatory battle."

Karone tightens her grip on the sabre handle as her transmorpher materializes on her wrist. She presses the button on the morpher, calls out "Go Galactic!" and morphs into the Pink Galaxy Ranger. Melissa summons a staff in her hands and swings it in the air at Karone. Karone leaps backward and uses her sabre to block the end of the staff.

"Fighting is one of my great hobbies" Melissa tells Karone as they battle. "Another is gathering information."

She presses her staff against the blade of Karone's sabre and turns it sideways. Karone leans over with it and with one foot against a tree, flips over the rock and lands on the other side. Melissa follows her, and they cross weapons once more.

"You see, I've gathered a lot of information on you" she continues. "You were born on Karoven Outpost-35, your brother is Andros the Red Space Ranger, who isn't bad looking if I say so myself, you work with children at your local rec center, and after all these years, you still hang onto the guilt of helping my master nearly conquer the galaxy as Astronema."

Karone is taken by surprise at Melissa's last comment. "Your... master? Dark Spectre? Is he alive?"

Melissa takes advantage of her confusion to strike Karone hard with her staff. She falls backwards and hits the ground.

"He is indeed alive, and I carry out his will."

Melissa pulls out an object shaped like a large button or landmine out of her pocket and crouches down as Karone is getting back to her feet. She lets go of the mine and it rolls forward in a line right to Karone. Karone doesn't see the device and inadverdently steps on it when she steps forward, pressing down on it with her foot. This sends a sudden shock wave through Karone's body as she falls back to the ground, briefly flailing her arms before falling unconscious. She demorphs out of her ranger suit from the shock.

Melissa gets ready to pick her up off the ground when she is surrounded by some laser blasts. The other Lost Galaxy Rangers have arrived.

"Get away from her!" shouts the Red Ranger, aiming a Transblaster at her.

Melissa steps away from Karone's comatose body and faces the others. Swinging her staff in the air, she prepares to teleport herself away.

"Beware the wrath of Dark Spectre!" she yells as she disappears from the area. The other rangers surround their fallen friend, who shows no signs of movement.


End file.
